Just Good Friends

by Ruth Ann Nordin

  Decision made, he got ready to retrieve the number from the wastebasket when Carmen told him he had a call on line one. He picked it up. “Tyler Jackson, Vice President of Rudolph Vacation Enterprises. How may I help you?”

  “Tyler! How are you doing, son?” Tiffany’s dad greeted from the other end of the phone.

  “Uh, Mr. Clark,” he said then cleared his throat. If he wanted to explain what was going on, now was a good time. “I’m glad you called. There’s something I need to tell you about Friday night.”

  “Before you tell me your news, I want to tell you mine.”

  Noting the excitement in the man’s voice, he ventured, “You have news?”

  “Good news! In fact, it’s the first time my wife and I decided to do anything this spontaneous.”

  “Oh?” Why did he have the sinking feeling that he wasn’t going to like this?

  “We’re coming to visit you and Tiffany!”

  “You’re what?” Tyler nearly yelled in alarm.

  Carmen glanced his way, and Nathan popped back into the room, his eyebrows raised in interest as he walked up to Tyler.

  “Now, don’t tell Tiffany. We want it to be a surprise,” her dad continued. “We know how it must seem to her. We spend so much time with Zoe and do everything for her. It’s not fair to her. But you see, up to now, we haven’t been able to afford to come for a visit. Fortunately, we just came into a financial windfall and thought we’d take the trip down there. We thought since you work at a travel agency, you could arrange the tickets for us. We’ve never done this sort of thing before and don’t know where to start.”

  “I…um…that is…” Tyler turned his wide gaze to Carmen then Nathan. Just what should he say? “I…oh, wow… This is so sudden.”

  Nathan grabbed the phone. “This is Nathan Rudolph, President of Rudolph Vacation Enterprises. May I ask who I’m speaking to?”

  Tyler struggled to remember what it was, specifically, that he was supposed to say that’d make them back off from this nonsense about coming down. But his mind went blank.

  “Sure, I can help you with that,” Nathan said and motioned for Tyler to scoot over.

  Wondering what his friend was doing, Tyler moved aside and watched as Nathan pulled up the screen for plane tickets.

  “What days did you want to come?” Nathan asked.

  Tyler frowned. “What are you doing?”

  “Hmm… Christmas is a very busy time of year. You’d be better off doing it sooner. You can get a better deal that way.”

  Gasping, Tyler grabbed Nathan’s arm. “No. Say all the flights are booked.”

  Ignoring him, Nathan typed in December 2 to December 16 as the dates for travel.

  December 2? That was tomorrow! “You can’t do this,” Tyler hissed and tried to seize the phone from him.

  Nathan, however, expertly dodged him.

  Tyler turned his gaze to Carmen. “Would you please help?”

  Carmen nodded and clicked the button to notify Nathan he had another call coming in. “It’s an emergency!” she called out, waving to get Nathan’s attention.

  Nathan glanced at Tyler and held his hand over the phone. “I know all about that trick.”

  “You’re speaking to Tiffany’s dad,” Tyler whispered.

  “I know. He introduced himself.”

  “So, don’t give him tickets.”

  “Don’t be silly. I’m not giving him tickets.”

  Relieved, Tyler asked, “You’re not?”

  “Nope. I’m selling them to him at a discount. You know how expensive first class seats are? Especially this time of year, and on this short notice?”

  Tyler’s jaw dropped as Nathan removed his hand and said, “I have good news, Mr. Clark. The tickets you want are available, and since you caught us on a day we’re doing a special discount, you only have to pay a thousand dollars for you and your lovely wife.”

  “Nathan,” Tyler hissed and tried to grab the phone from him again. Tiffany was going to kill him if this went through. “I have to tell him I’m not really married to his daughter.”

  Nathan turned his back to him. “There’s no need to thank me,” he told her dad. Then he chuckled at whatever her dad said on the other end. “Alright, alright. If you insist on giving me something, then I only ask you enjoy your visit with your daughter and son-in-law.” Tyler made another move to grab the phone, but Nathan quickly went around the desk. “I have an idea, Mr. Clark. Why don’t you come over and take a tour of my business so you can see what your son-in-law and daughter do here?”

  Tyler slapped his forehead and slouched down in his chair. He hated this. As soon as Nathan got an idea, there was no stopping him, no matter what was happening or who suffered for it.

  “It’s no problem at all,” Nathan said then paused. “If I can’t give my friend’s family preferential treatment, then who can I give it to?” He paused again. “Yes, Tyler and I have known each other since college. We started out as roommates. I think of him as a brother.” He laughed. “You’re right. That would make me an uncle to their children. And when they have them, that’s exactly how I’ll think of them.” When Nathan hung up, he turned to Tyler. “Her parents are great.”

  “You’re killing me, Nathan,” Tyler muttered, glaring at him.

  “Oh come on. They just want to see their little girl with someone who deserves her, and I can’t think of anyone more deserving than you. You’ll be perfect for her.”

  “Why did you do that?”

  “Do what?”

  “Get them tickets.”

  “Because they wanted them.”

  Tyler got up and followed him out of the room. “You’re impossible. You barge into people’s lives and take over.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Nathan entered his office and waved at his daughter, who was playing in the playpen.

  “It’s not enough you tricked your wife into marrying you? Must you control everyone else, too?”

  “I don’t control anyone. I merely guide them in the direction that will make them happy.” He picked his daughter up and kissed her forehead. “Someday, you’ll see this is for the best.”

  “I doubt it.”

  “Amy doubted it, too, at first, but she’s happy, and she wants to try for another child soon.”

  Tyler threw his hands up in the air and left Nathan’s office. Why did he even try? There was no getting through to Nathan. The man was a brick wall. The only thing he could do now was warn Tiffany about this latest disaster…and hope she’d still talk to him.

  Chapter Eleven

  Tiffany was finishing up getting tickets for a family of four when Tyler entered the building. She noted the concern on his face, and her stomach clenched. Whatever happened, it couldn’t be good.

  Forcing her attention back to the family, she smiled. “Let me print out your itinerary, and we’ll be done.”

  She stood up and indicated that she’d talk to him in a moment. He nodded and sat in one of the chairs. She hoped—no, she prayed—it had nothing at all to do with her parents.

  Danielle came over to her as soon as the printer was done printing the papers out and asked, “You want me to give it to that family, so you can see what Tyler wants?”

  “No, it’ll only take a minute. Thanks, though.” After Tiffany folded the papers and slipped them into a folder, she thanked them for choosing Rudolph Vacation Enterprises then hurried over to Tyler. “What’s wrong?”

  “You don’t want to know,” he told her.

  “Then why did you come here?” She tried to make light of the situation, but he only let out a mournful sigh that let her know this was worse than she imagined. And she could imagine a lot of horrible things.

  He stood up and gestured to the door. “We should probably talk in private.”

  “This must be good,” Danielle said, coming over to them.

  “Danielle!” Amy called out.

  “What?” Danielle asked, her eyes wide. “They don�
��t mind if I participate. I’m their friend, after all, and friends share everything.”

  “He asked to speak to her in private,” Amy replied.

  “My inclusion was implied.” Danielle turned back to them, ignoring the way Amy rolled her eyes. “So, what’s up?”

  “Well,” Tyler glanced at Danielle then sighed. “Oh, what does it matter? Everyone will know soon anyway.” Directing his gaze at Tiffany, he said, “Your parents are coming for a visit.”

  “My parents are coming here?” Tiffany shrieked. “To Omaha?” When he nodded, she said, “But they’ve never come here before.”

  “Wow,” Danielle commented. “Hold on. I got to grab the popcorn.”

  “This isn’t a movie moment,” Tiffany called out after her.

  But Danielle was running to the kitchen.

  “You’ll have to forgive her,” Amy spoke up on her behalf. “She has no life, and she can’t watch her soap operas because her DVR is busted.”

  “Ha, ha,” Danielle said as she returned to them, holding a bag of freshly popped popcorn. “Want some?”

  Ignoring her, Tiffany turned to Tyler. “When did this happen?”

  “About ten minutes ago. Your dad called, and I was going to tell him he couldn’t get tickets and that we weren’t really married, but I froze up and Nathan took the phone. After that, the whole thing was a blur. All I know is that your parents have tickets and...” He gulped. “Maybe you should sit down.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I don’t want you to pass out.”

  “Are they coming today?”

  “No.”

  She released her breath. Okay. So if they were coming for Christmas, which made the most sense, there was still time to tell them the truth.

  “They’re coming tomorrow,” Tyler blurted out then winced.

  “Tomorrow?”

  He nodded. “And they won’t leave until December 16.”

  “That long?”

  “It’s only two weeks,” Danielle commented as she munched on her popcorn.

  “Danielle,” Amy called out, “why can’t you do something else with your time, like fill out the inventory sheet?”

  Danielle rolled her eyes. “Because the inventory sheet is not this interesting.” She turned back to them. “Sorry for Amy’s rude interruption. Go on.”

  “I tried to stop Nathan,” Tyler continued. “I tried to grab the phone. I told him not to do it.” He ran his hands through his hair then dropped them at his sides. “I did everything I could think of, but I was in shock, you know? The secretary even tried to get him to take another call, but he ignored her. I’m sorry, Tiffany. I know this only makes everything worse.”

  “Everything is exploding in our faces,” Tiffany said.

  “I really did try to stop him, but he’s relentless once he sets his mind to something.”

  “He does get that way,” Amy muttered then placed her hand over her mouth when the three turned to look at her. “Sorry. I’m not going to listen to any more of this.” She picked up the papers she was filling out and hurried to the back room.

  “Anyway, I wanted to come by and warn you,” Tyler said. “They want it to be a surprise, so they won’t be telling you. They just plan to show up.”

  “Show up? Here?”

  “I think so. Or maybe I’m supposed to pick them up at the airport. I don’t know. I never finished the call with them.”

  She groaned and rubbed her forehead. This was going to give her such a headache.

  “Will you please forgive me?” he asked.

  By his tone, she knew he felt as if the whole thing was his fault, but it wasn’t. “If I had any idea one simple white lie could blow up in our faces like this, I never would have suggested it.”

  “Yeah, well, Nathan lies and gets away with it all the time. Nothing bad ever happens to him.”

  “Well, we’re not Nathan.” Tiffany bit her lower lip. “What do you think we should do?”

  “They already paid for the tickets.”

  “Maybe, but I could pay them back and explain why they can’t come.”

  “Or we could go along with it and let them believe everything’s okay,” Tyler suggested, though he winced at the idea.

  “I like Tyler’s idea,” Danielle spoke up, still munching on her popcorn. “This is right before Christmas. They’re obviously excited. Why not let them believe this for a little bit longer?”

  “Because it’s only going to get worse,” Tiffany said.

  Tyler’s smartphone rang, so he pulled it out of his pocket.

  Danielle led Tiffany away from Tyler and lowered her voice. “I know this isn’t the most ideal way things have happened, but,” she glanced at Tyler then turned her attention back to Tiffany, “he’s pretty hot.”

  Not sure she heard her right, Tiffany asked, “What?”

  “Take away the glasses and the nerd suit, and I bet you’d find a gorgeous hunk under there.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with his glasses or his business suit.”

  “I know, but it makes it harder to see just how hot he is.” She glanced at him again. “Trust me. He’s hot.”

  Tyler got off his phone and came over to them. “That was Nathan. He suggested that you and I take the rest of the day off to decorate one of our places so it looks like we live together. He says if we don’t, we’ll look like a,” he rolled his eyes, “weird couple.”

  “I agree,” Danielle said then turned to Tiffany. “It would look weird if none of your things were in his place or vice versa.”

  Amy came over to them and wrapped her arm around Danielle’s shoulders. “Danielle, why don’t you do something else?”

  “I can do something later.”

  “No, you can do something now,” Amy insisted and led her back to her desk.

  Tyler sighed and turned to Tiffany. “I don’t know what to do.”

  Tiffany was just as clueless as he was. And it was all because she didn’t want to send an email. A physical letter would have bought her an extra couple days of peace, a peace that just wasn’t worth it now that all this was happening. “I haven’t been able to think clearly for the past couple days. Everything’s happening so fast.”

  “I know. It doesn’t help that Nathan’s only compounding the problem. Believe me, I never thought in a million years he would go this far. I explained everything to him, and I thought he wouldn’t make things worse.”

  “I know you did everything you could, Tyler.” He’d never done anything to betray her in the past, nor would he in the future. As far as dependable friends went, he was the best. “We just need to figure out what we should do from this point forward.”

  “Right now all I can think of is going along with it and pretending we’re still married.”

  “Do it!” Danielle called out.

  When Tiffany and Tyler glanced at her, Danielle quickly apologized and turned back to her work—or at least, she pretended to turn back to her work. But really, Danielle hearing their conversation was the least of her problems. She had much bigger things to worry about, and she had the nagging suspicion this wasn’t going to be easy to resolve.

  “I should call my parents right now and explain everything,” Tiffany finally said as she went over to her purse and dug out her cell phone.

  “No,” Danielle pleaded, looking up from the paper she’d been filling out. Then she mouthed, “Tyler is hot,” to Tiffany.

  Tiffany quickly looked over at Tyler to see if he’d seen what Danielle just mouthed, but he had his back turned to them as he stared out the window. “We aren’t married,” Tiffany mouthed back.

  “But you could be if you play your cards right,” Danielle mouthed in return.

  “We are just friends.”

  “Which could make sex even better. You’re comfortable enough with him to tell him what you like and don’t like.”

  Groaning, Tiffany ignored Danielle and called her parents. But instead of getting them to pick up the phone, it went t
o their voicemail, and in the voicemail, they said they were busy getting ready to go on a very exciting trip that was ‘top secret’ and couldn’t answer the phone.

  She thought about leaving a message telling them not to come because she wasn’t really married, but then she glanced over at Tyler and caught sight of him as he took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He was good looking. She’d always known he was good looking, of course. But she hadn’t really taken the time to seriously think about it until that moment.

  She shook her head. No, she wasn’t going to go through with the pretense of acting like his wife just because her friend was attractive. The whole notion was ridiculous.

  Turning her attention back to her mom’s message, she said, “Mom, this is Tiffany. Give me a call. I have something very important to tell you.” Then she hung up and noticed the disappointment on Danielle’s face.

  “Please don’t do it,” Danielle whispered. “At least not until you give it a chance.” She pointed to Tyler then clasped her hands in a pleading gesture.

  Tiffany shoved her phone back in her purse and stood up. “You’re too much, Danielle.”

  “She’s even harder to restrain than Nathan is,” Amy commented with a shake of her head.

  “You would be lost without me,” Danielle told Amy.

  Though Amy shot her friend an amused grin, she told Tiffany, “As much as I don’t like what Nathan’s doing, I think he’s right. You should take the rest of the day off to get things ready for your parents.”

  Tiffany sighed. “You’re right. At this point, I’m probably stuck going through with it. But I will tell my parents while they’re here. As long as no one else finds out until then, the damage should be minimized.” She hoped.

  “Good luck,” Amy said.

  “Thanks.”

  “But don’t tell them too soon,” Danielle whispered.

  Tiffany groaned, grabbed her purse and coat, and went over to Tyler. “I can’t get a hold of my parents,” she told him. “I think they won’t take my calls because they’re afraid they’ll let it slip that they’re coming for a visit.”